A Year Ago Today, Bob Iger Retired
Last week, Disney CEO Bob Iger sent a lovely note to many Disney fans. In it, he stated that he is “so grateful for your continued passion for Disney.”
Iger ended the message with a note that he wished us all “a very happy and prosperous New Year.”
Image Credit: Disney
If you’d been in a coma and off the internet for the past three years, none of that would have seemed abnormal.
However, Disney fans know better. A year ago today, Bob Iger retired from The Walt Disney Company. So, exactly what happened?
Photo: PRNewsFoto/The Walt Disney Co.
The Iger Plan
On February 25th, 2020, Iger stunned Wall Street analysts and Disney fans alike.
With almost no fanfare, Disney’s CEO announced his impending retirement on New Year’s Eve, 2021. However, that wasn’t the shocker.
Photo: Hollywood Reporter
Simultaneously, Iger revealed that he was stepping down as CEO immediately.
Yes, after years of rumors and innuendos, Disney finally had a new boss. Bob Chapek earned his dream job on that day.
Photo: CNBC
We will never know what happened behind the scenes that led to this turn of events. In fact, several reports on the matter directly conflict.
Some indicate that Iger had planned for Chapek to take over more than a year before the promotion became public.
Photo: CBR.com
Others swore that Iger had told one of his most trusted allies, Kevin Mayer, that the latter gentleman would become CEO.
At this point, I must acknowledge that the two ideas aren’t mutually exclusive.
Photo: TheWrap.com
We must allow for the possibility that Iger told both men that he would promote each one to CEO.
Everyone acknowledges that Bob Iger is a master politician, and politicians lie.
Still, I wrote about the succession plan less than three months before it happened. In November 2019, the Wall Street consensus established Mayer as the frontrunner.
Photo: Disney
After all, as a Disney executive, Mayer played an essential role in Disney’s acquisitions of powerful properties like Marvel, Star Wars, and The Simpsons.
More importantly, Mayer led the Disney+ project at the time, which means that his team built the streaming service from the ground up.
Image: The Wall Street Journal
As such, I can understand why Iger wouldn’t want to tell Mayer he wasn’t getting the job as Disney+ prepared to launch in November 2019.
The timing didn’t encourage brutal honesty with one of Disney’s most significant product launches in the offing.
Photographer: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney
No matter the cause, Mayer got a raw deal.
The Odd Iger Choice
The question many have wondered over the past three years is why Iger overlooked Mayer for Chapek.
Photo: Variety
After all, Chapek’s flaws as a leader weren’t a secret at the time. I mentioned several valid criticisms of him in evaluating whether he’d get the job.
Meanwhile, Mayer claimed a relatively clean profile. Some insiders at the time mentioned that Mayer’s inexperience worked against him.
Photo: TheWrap.com
That assertion fails the laugh test, though. Mayer started at Disney in 1993 and then left to develop skills at other companies before returning.
In fact, Mayer claimed something that Chapek couldn’t. Mayer had worked as a CEO before when he oversaw Playboy.com in 2000.
Photo: Disney
Note that this entity wasn’t the same as Playboy but rather a subsidiary. Still, Mayer possessed experience as the decider for a business.
In 2005, the executive returned for his second stint at Disney, giving him 14 years of additional experience with his favorite company.
Folks, Kevin Mayer looked better on paper. Sure, Chapek had run Disney’s lucrative home video division at a time when that mattered mightily to the company’s bottom line.
Also, Chapek held the title of Chairman of the Parks division at the time of his promotion to CEO. These are admittedly two of Disney’s most credible leadership roles.
Neither of them mattered as much in 2019 as Mayer’s work on Disney+ did, though.
The Iger Conspiracy Theory
So, when Disney acknowledged its change in CEOs, rumors and speculation abounded.
Photo: Washington Post illustration; Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP; iStock
Many believed – and will until the day they die – that Iger didn’t want to leave Disney, especially not then.
However, Iger knew about the perils of COVID-19 before most North American executives.
He received intel from the Chinese government, which co-owns Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland.
Photo: Jeremy Thompson/Wikipedia
For this reason, Iger found himself acutely aware of his dilemma. Two candidates had positioned themselves well to succeed him.
One candidate looked better on paper, but the other demonstrated tremendous financial skill.
Photo: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
In short, Mayer is more of a creative type, while we all know that Chapek’s a bean counter.
Iger understood that Disney would face a perilous financial predicament if the pandemic broke the wrong way.
Photo: CDC
If so, Chapek’s utterly ruthless financial evaluations could prove useful in the short term.
However, Iger surely recognized Chapek’s leadership flaws, having worked with the man for many years.
Credit: AP
As such, Iger understood that Chapek couldn’t work as the long-term solution for Disney CEO. And that’s where the conspiracy theory comes into play.
Some folks are convinced that Iger either set up Chapek to fail or agreed with him in advance to work as the temporary Disney CEO.
Source: Variety.com
In either scenario, Iger would have returned as the savior for a struggling company facing poor leadership. And that’s where we’re at right now.
Chapek did, in fact, fail as Disney’s CEO. He alienated too many people, burned too many bridges, and raised too many prices.
Photo: Getty Images
In hindsight, Chapek’s implosion seems like a foregone conclusion. Did Iger anticipate that? Or plan for it? Or did he adapt cleverly on the fly?
How did Bob Iger quit Disney on New Year’s Eve 2021 but return as CEO on November 20th, 2022?
Photo: Disney
The Iger Plan for 2023
Iger and Chapek’s stunning reversals of fortune mirror one another. The whole thing reminds me of Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy’s characters in Trading Places.
Did someone bet Bob Iger a dollar that he could leave for less than a year, return a hero, and torpedo Chapek’s career in the process?
We’re all left to wonder about something that’s equal parts brilliant and terrifying if true. Did Iger anticipate everything that would happen after he left Disney?
If so, we must assume that Disney’s CEO has a plan for 2023. By all accounts, Iger has remained in contact with many high-level Disney executives.
(Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
In truth, that’s part of what caused problems for Chapek. He didn’t trust many of his own lieutenants, fearing they were more loyal to Iger.
Presuming that Iger does possess such comprehensive knowledge of Disney’s inner workings and did before returning, he must have a trick up his sleeve.
Photo: D23
Bob Iger will do something in 2023 that tracks with his career trajectory to date. He will unify Disney in a way that sets a path to the future.
Will that path include ESPN and Hulu? Could Candle Media and CoComelon become a part of Disney? How about Hasbro or even Netflix?
Photo: Hulu
One year ago today, Bob Iger left a letter to cast members. In it, he emphasized the importance of multi-generational storytelling.
Which possible outcomes will carry Disney further down that road? We’re all left guessing for now, but it’s gonna be a lot of fun speculating.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Iger’s return ensures a calmer, more interesting Disney in 2023. Let’s all be grateful for that.
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Feature Photo: AFP
